Saturday, July 7, 2012

My new favorite thing...macaroons!

Mac.a.roon: (noun) a drop cookie made of egg whites, sugar, usually almond paste or coconut, and sometimes a little flour.

My friend Courtney and I had both been swooning over Macaroons so we planned a date night where we would get together and attempt to make them ourselves. We had both heard how hard they were to make, but honestly ours turned out just right...maybe it was beginners luck or maybe we are just that good, most likely it's the second one!
We started out with the most basic macaroons you could make...Vanilla macaroons. Let me just tell you that even the vanilla macaroon made me drool. Like the definition says a macaroon is a drop cookie. Ours did have egg whites and sugar and we used ground almond too, but no coconut. To make a macaroon you have to start by combining ground almond and powdered sugar, which you end up folding into a delicious meringue mixture of egg whites and vanilla.
Then you use a piping bag to drop the macaroons onto parchment paper and put them in the oven for less than 15 minutes. While they are baking you can make the filling. The filling for these macaroons was very simple (butter, powdered sugar and vanilla), but you can get fancy with your fillings! When the macaroons finish baking you add the filling then you sandwich them together making the cutest darn dessert ever. 
If you are looking for a book to give you great tips on making macaroons I'd recommend this book! It's less than $2.00 and has tons of great macaroon recipes!! Our next macaroon making session will be to make Blueberry cheesecake filled Macaroons. Yum!

16 comments:

Natalie said...

I've yet to try my hand at making macaroons, but you two have inspired me to do so... and the sooner the better! =)

Amanda Schroeder said...

Those look de-lish. I'm going to have to try them...I do see them everywhere! Now for the fun part! Thanks for sharing (:

Amanda at: weandseredipity.blogspot.com

Lauren Talon said...

mmm looks so good! Great job! Now that book...$2? Is it really small or something?

Anna said...

yum! those look amazing. :) blueberry cheesecake sounds good!

Amanda C. said...

Wow, those look legit. I am not a coconut fan myself, so the vanilla would be right up my alley!

Jessica M. said...

Those look delicious!!

courtney said...

aww! this was so fun! so excited to try our blueberry cheesecake ones! :D

Lauren said...

Nom nom nom. I may need to try these:-)

AlliCat said...

These look yummy! How fun to have a baking day with a friend :)

tiff@thecoffeehouse said...

you lost me at 'combining ground almond' ...
don't they sell these things in the store? ;) honestly though, you guys are my heros!

Jess said...

They came out looking SO good!
I can't believe how easily you made them...I
ve heard that they are difficult to make.

Maybe you should change up your career path and become a chef?! ;)

xo

Katie said...

Ok, I've got a secret for you....not only have I not made a macaroon, but I've never ATE one either!! They look very tasty and so professional!

Andrea said...

These look so incredible! Great job! I definitely agree and I think you are just that good at baking :)

Amanda said...

I don't think I've ever eaten on, but yours look awesome! Congrats, girl! I love when a cooking experiment turns out just right :)

alliespence. said...

ohh how yum! i saw courtney's instapics of these and was salivating! blueberry cheesecake was my favourite when i tried a whole bunch at a nearby bakery. yum yum! [now i really, really want some...]

Emily @ Emmy June said...

I know I'm really late to the party with this...

but WOW! You girls are talented. They look delish :)